I have to say that this is one study I wouldn’t have thought to help better understand autism. It’s being done in part with the American Humane Association and looking at autistic tendencies present in certain breeds of dogs.

We too did this back when my son was in fourth grade and it turned out to be a blessing. Unlike the article “Meeting Matthew” by Paul Roud at Teaching Tolerance, my son was out of the room at the time (which for him, worked out well). What I remember most is how his teacher tole me that a lot of his classmates said “so that’s why he…”. Fortunately we had the support of a local group now called Life Skills here in St. Louis and they made it very easy to do.

As I’ve said before and I truly believe, it takes a village to raise a child. It’s well worth the investment.

It’s an article about a father and his son growing up in a time when there was little known about autism. While my son was diagnosed back in the early in 2004 (officially at the age of 5) and so more has been discovered, it feels like there is still a lot more to learn about autism.

So why the article does perhaps give rise to some of my fears, it also keeps me hopeful.